All
pages and photos
copyright 2000-2006
All Rights Reserved
by Lloyd Treichel

Wandrin

Dateline:
March 2, 2002 --
Tucson, Arizona

Snow
birding in Tucson ... I arrived
here the last day of January and have been exploring the Tucson area in
detail.
Wandrin Wagon is parked at Rincon Country East RV Park while
here.

Tucson's Old
Pueblo Archeology Center provided one of the high points of
my Tucson stay. For the price of $38, I was trained to work in the dirt
and excavate Indian dwellings dating to 900-1300 A.D. This dig was
located along the Santa Cruz River
northwest of downtown Tucson. I found this work to be pure fun; it was
a search and solving of puzzles. There were several crews of three
working the many approximately six foot square plots. In the particular
plot I worked, we found potsherds, flint knapping residue, stone tools,
items carved from shells, and stone points of varying sizes. One was of
obsidian about an inch long and a quarter of an inch at the base. I had
no idea something so fine could be made of stone.

After the first day, I took a membership with Old Pueblo so I could do
it a second day and then again for two days two weeks later. I've never
had so much fun (as an adult) getting so dirty.

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
is an archeological site that dates to about 1250 A.D. and the picture
is of a structure that was at one time four stories high and was built
of mud and adobe. The foresight of a person in 1892 helped preserve one
of the few of these structures that remain.

Water and changes in annual rainfalls seem to be the most frequent
explanation for the Indians of that time abandoning these villages or
relocating to other areas of the southwest U.S.

Is there a message in the human history of Arizona?

The Kartchner Caverns is part
of the Arizona State Parks. This cavern was found in 1974, kept secret
until the State bought it and surrounding land to develop a park. After
ten years of development it was opened to the public just over two
years ago. The cave was found via a hole about 24 inches in diameter.
In order to keep this a "living" cave with only that single hole to the
above ground environment, the entrance to the developed cave is through
a series of air locks. Tour group sizes are limited and reservations
are a good idea.

The experience was one that I would find difficult to describe. What
the senses experience is difficult to put into words -- so I will not
try. Come see for yourself.

Southwest Indian Fair
is held on the University of Arizona on the lawn in front of the
Arizona State Museum. Many tribes are represented here and they bring
their art in the form of jewelry, pots, baskets, stone sculptures, and
wood carvings. The later is my favorite and they had some beautiful
pieces.

I also toured the Museum and its presentation of the lives of the
Indians of the Southwest through their Paths of Life exhibit. This
exhibit details the historic record of the Indian communities in the
area from their earliest inhabitation through the 20th century. A very
educational presentation that was over whelming in the depth of the
knowledge presented.

Old Tucson Studios was used as a
movie set beginning in 1940 and continues to this day. There is an
extensive list of movies and TV shows that have been filmed here.

When it isn't used as a movie set, it entertains the tourist (for a
price) in staged gun fights in the streets and saloon. These actors
also demonstrate the stuntman's craft.

After the fake bullets "fly" and the actors get up once again, I wonder
what impression this has on the young mind. Of course he sees it on TV
in two dimension, but here it is in three dimension with no commercial
interruption.

A visit to Tombstone's Boot Hill
produced this clever epithet:
HERE LIES
LESTER MOORE
FOUR SLUGS
FROM A-44
NO LES
NO MORE
Since I continue to research my genealogy, I checked the "resident"
lists for any distant relatives. No luck here!

A
disappointment ... Since Arizona has
had little rain fall this winter, there will be few desert blooms to
enjoy this
spring.

A
jury summons ... was in the monthly
accumulation of mail that I received on the 7th of
February.

For
over forty years, I have been a registered
voter, registered cars, owned property and I have never had a jury
summons. Now that I only have a mail box in Weld County,
Colorado and only
a
vehicle registered there -- and I really do not reside there -- I get
the jury
summons.

I
responded with an email explaining my
wand'rin' status and requested the removal of my name from the jury
pool.
The request was honored.

Note
on mail. I use a street address at
Mail Boxes Etc. so that I can register Silver Slug. Once a
month I send an
email to have them package the mail and mail it to me via "UPS
Ground". I started out using USPS Priority Mail, but that
could be
any where from three to seven days before it showed up. UPS
is there
within three to four days -- every time.

Hiking
... in the desert continues to
challenge me.

To
get what I thought would be a beautiful
picture, I went off the trail and in the process I managed to get a
bunch of
prickly pear thorns in my leg through the Levi's. In order to
get those
things out, I had to lower my pants to any hiker who came along the
trail.
I really did not care. Ouch! I will learn!

So
far, I have been able to avoid
the very vicious cholla cactus.

Cinnamon
Roll Search ... I've run into
a dry spell on this. I suppose that I could resort to an area
favorite of
Indian Fry bread
with honey and cinnamon. But... it isn't a cinnamon
roll.

A
few bakeries were found here in Tucson, but
some had no cinnamon rolls. When I did find a bakery with
cinnamon rolls,
I did purchase one in spite of the price of $1.75 for a rather small
roll. I couldn't finish the roll. There was another
spice included
with the cinnamon which I was unable to identify, but it overpowered
the
cinnamon flavor. Thumbs down on that. I had
considered going back to
ask about the flavor, but I decided that I did not
care.

Since
I knew that the Safeway grocery had one
that I liked, I bought one. However, this particular store
appeared not to
be into the flaky "filo" type rolls that I had become used
to.
This one had nothing more than Danish dough used for the cinnamon
roll.
That is really bad! It tastes like a Cinnamon Danish --
actually worse.

And
so I continue my search....

In
the how come department ... On I-19
south of Tucson, distances are stated in kilometers while the speed
limit signs
are posted in miles per hour.

An
annoying commercial ... Am I the only
one that is annoyed by the Aflac duck? The one thing that I
can say for
the message is that I do know what they are selling.

Tucson
acquaintances ... Visited with
Dennis and Bonnie Haight over dinner and we talked of past and
present.
Dennis and I were co-workers at StorageTek years
ago.

Latest
Read ... "In Siberia" by
Colin Thubron. There are a lot of places on this earth that I
will never
get to visit -- and really -- I have no desire to go there.
Siberia would
be one of those places. A solo traveler, Thubron travels in
the mid 1990's
to see Siberia via trains, boats and car. Some of his stops
included the
infamous Siberian Gulags where millions died during Stalin's paranoid
reign. With few hotels along the way,
he is welcomed and stays with some of the people of this vast land mass
and
relates their lives, loves and dreams -- before and after Communist
rule.

Vanity Plate ...
"TEACHRN" -- a teacher of RNs ... or ...

Bumper sticker ...
"Monkeys Steal My Underwear At Night" ... I am puzzled by that
one. Perhaps there is some personal joke or maybe some TV
show. I
really have no idea, but it did get my attention.

Quotable quote ... "How
beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward." - Spanish
proverb